The Ladykillers

 

 'The Ladykillers' has been released by Optimum as part of their 'Studio Canal Collection' classic film release programme on Blu-Ray. Generally these have been first class, beautifully packaged in hardback book surrounds, replete with booklets, generous extras and pristine HD transfers.
 
'The Ladykillers' is one of my all time favourite films and without doubt my favourite Ealing outing. Being the last of their legendary comedies (the studio was sold to the BBC shortly after this), it seemed to combine all that was great about the Ealing comedies with their dark, sublimely surreal humour set against the mundanities of everyday life.
 
Directed by Alexander ('Sandy') Mackendrick, who cut his teeth on the equally sublime 'Whiskey Galore' it is a film that has so much right with it that it feels almost churlish to mention any negatives.
 
Alec Guinness stars as criminal mastermind, Professor Marcus, who leads a group of thieves about to commit the perfect crime. (He plays this so like Alistair Sim that I often see Sim in my mind's eye when thinking of the film). Marcus rents a room from sweet and harmless old lady (Mrs. Wilberforce played by 79 year old Katie Davies) in her crooked London house. Posing as unlikely members of a musical quartet, the professor and his gang, blowhard Major Courtney (Cecil Parker), creepily suave Louis (Herbert Lom), chubby Harry (Peter Sellers) and muscleman One-Round (Danny Green setting the template that Bernard Bresslaw would slavishly follow for most his career) hit upon the idea of using "Mrs. Lopsided" herself in their bank heist. However when she learns the truth about her residents she feels compelled to report them to the authorities, and they in turn feel she's become a nuisance that must be removed.


 What follows is black comedy at its finest, as the entire cast of crooks seem intent on killing each other rather than doing the obvious and simple thing; disposing of the little old lady.
 
Apocryphally Katie Davis sweetly offered to pay for her own film insurance out of her life savings when she heard that the costs might be prohibitive. Whilst she had played plenty of small parts over the years, this was her first major part and she was thrilled at the prospects. It's almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.
 
It's a beautifully realized piece with a fast moving plot, excellent dialogue, perfect casting and beautifully realised by perfectionist Mackendrick.
 
PICTURE
I must say that I was disappointed with the picture quality. Whilst there is nothing wrong with it as such, it was hardly the pristine Blu-Ray re-master that I hoped for. In fact, the transfer falls short of all the previous films I have seen in this otherwise excellent release programme. Looking at the special feature on remedial work, I suspect that they have taken the same digital master tape and then spent time digitally cleaning this, rather than going back to an original print and re-mastering from the base up. And it shows. Just to check that I wasn't going mad, I checked out my previously bought Studio Canal DVD release and there was only a marginal improvement from this. I guess we all expect so much more from Blu-Ray. I bought the VHS of the film, then the DVD (for a marked improvement), so the BR represents a treble-dip. I would say, unless you find the packaging utterly irresistible (totally understandable) and want the booklet and the array of extras, then I would stick to the DVD you have. Having said that, with the 'Forever Ealing' documentary included here (previously only available as part of the Ealing box set) as well as a lack-luster though highly informative commentary, all the additional pieces alone may seem like great value in their own right. But of you want to replace the DVD merely for a better copy of the film, and then I see little reason to do so.
 
AUDIO
Perfectly acceptable mono and a slight improvement on the DVD release (though the commentary audio is dreadful).
 
 
EXTRA FEATURES
 Where to start? Well, you get the packaging and booklet (I haven't seen these as I received only the check disc) as well as some great extras on the disc itself.
 
There is a brand new Introduction by Terry Gilliam (which shows his lifelong appreciation of the film).
 
There is a feature length commentary with film critic and author Philip Kemp. It's a poorly recorded affair with Kemp delivering a highly informative commentary in an intonation free monotone. I endured it all though as there was much to learn about this fantastic movie and it is well worth persisting, especially for film students who want to learn more about how films like these are made.
 
Next up is the 50 Minute documentary 'Forever Ealing' previously only available as part of the DVD box set, a source of frustration for those of us who bought all the individual DVD's on release. It's a well made piece reflecting the studio's history from inception (before the war) to its recent renaissance.
 
There are a number of interview segments which range from being highly informative to downright annoying (the captioned questions are often toe-curlingly bad). The Terence Davies interview is the only one of these that has not been previously released.
 
Finally there is a 'Cleaning Up the Ladykillers' featurette which I watched with great interest as I didn't think the results were particularly stunning. It merely added weight to my suspicions that what had actually happened was that the digital tapes had been re-input into a digital edit suite, slightly graded and then 'touched up' to remove traces of green flare that would probably never have been seen on anything but analogue tape versions anyway. Laughably the split screens showing before and after were more like 'spot the difference' images in a puzzle magazine. There is only one way to do a proper clean up and that is to go back to the original negatives and start the process there. I suspect that this has not been the case here though, understandably, the economics of funding such a process may not have been viable.

 
CONCLUSION
 If you don't have a version of 'The Ladykillers' in your collection then you should make amends immediately and this is the best version of the film currently available. The bonus features are well worthwhile too and the whole package represents excellent value.
 
However, if you already own the previously issued Studio Canal DVD and have no interest in the packaging, booklet or extras then the improvements in picture quality do not justify a double-dip. Oh well.